Saturday, August 20, 2022

Stepbrother Heaven: Five Forbidden #Erotic #Romances

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07C5FLVGB?tag=dondes-20
Got a good book for the weekend? 

Yeah, you do? 

Well, forget about that one and buy my new collection of stepbrother stories, novels and novellas!

Fill those rainy days and nights with stepbrothers galore as you flip through the pages of STEPBROTHER HEAVEN: Five Forbidden Erotic Romances!

In one collection, you're getting my novel IN SHADOW, the step-version of Adam and Sheree's Family Vacation (STEPBROTHER SUMMER), a novella called MOVING MAY that I actually stole from my sock puppet Lexi Wood, plus two short stories: one called COLD HARD CASH (which I really wish I'd titled My Sister, My Stripper) and another called LOVE IN THE LEAVES, which is a pretty romantic name for a story about a dude and his best friend having a threesome with his stepsister in the backyard.

Because this collection contains so much taboo content, it's not available from many retailers. In fact, I think you'll find the print version at more bookstores than the ebook

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/815202

He’s sexy. He’s solid. He’s her stepbrother!

Anyone can fall for a bad boy, but it takes a special sort of girl to surrender to a guy who truly drives her crazy. And when those illicit impulses take hold? Oh baby! There’s no use trying to resist!

In these five erotic romances by Giselle Renarde, you’ll meet obedient Felicia, innocent Clover, sultry Sheree, money-hungry Jenna and high-maintenance May. They don’t have much in common, but they’re all hot for guys they shouldn’t want!

Sexy, sweaty love prevails in five incredibly lusty tales of girls falling for guys… who are strictly forbidden!

Stepbrother Heaven includes (two novels, two stories and one novella) the following complete works: Stepbrother Summer, In Shadow, Love in the Leaves, Moving May, and Cold Hard Cash.

Start reading today, and immerse yourself in a world where stepbrothers always get what they want!

Where can you buy your copy?

Here are a few links:

Smashwords (ebook): https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1160842?ref=GiselleRenardeErotica
Amazon (ebook, paperback, hardcover): https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B9ST71M5?tag=dondes-20

Here are a few more links for the paperback:

https://books2read.com/StepbrotherHeaven

Hopefully the ebook will also be available at other retailers, but so-called "pseudoincest" (people having sex with their step-relations) is getting trickier to publish all the time.

*sigh*

Sunday, August 14, 2022

Chef's Kiss: A BDSM Romance Short


Chef's Kiss
A BDSM Romance Short

by Giselle Renarde
ISBN: 9781005491642
Word Count: 7,000

Holly wants more than just an autograph from TV’s sexy Chef Burley. Every time she watches the celebrity sweating over a hot stove, her imagination runs wild. Holly’s not usually the kind of woman who would throw herself at a man, but she’s willing to make an exception for Chef Burley.

Every woman at the book signing wants a piece of the sexy celebrity chef. How will Holly stand out from the crowd?

Fast-paced fiction from award-winning author Giselle Renarde.

Previously published as “Seducing the Sexy Celebrity Chef.”

Buy Now from Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1159960?ref=GiselleRenardeErotica
Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=vXuAEAAAQBAJ
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B9C5V23D?tag=dondes-20
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/ca/en/ebook/chef-s-kiss-2

Find more retailers with the Universal Book Link: https://books2read.com/ChefsKiss

Saturday, August 13, 2022

The Fantasy of Romance

Note: originally posted in 2014

Here's something you should never admit when you work in this industry: I'm not a romantic.

But that's my truth.  I soured on romance early in life because I never felt represented in Disney-esque storylines.  I'm queer and I'm weird.  I was never a princess and I never wanted a prince.  Romance as a genre did not speak to me.

Apart from being queer and not identifying with heteromance (which struck me as prescriptive and ridiculous in terms of what's considered acceptable and appropriate behaviour in establishing a relationship), I also found the idea of the happy-ever-after a little... well, unrealistic.  Fantastic, in other words.

Romance is a fantasy.

A couple months ago, there was a hashtag on Twitter that had something to do with romance readers' guilty confessions.  I noticed a lot of readers tweeting that they didn't care how a story resolved itself so long as the lovers lived happily ever after.  They didn't care if the romance was realistic.  They just wanted to feel warm and fuzzy at the end.

Of course, not everybody following the conversation agreed.  Some readers want the plot to resonate, or at least to... you know, make sense.  For myself, I'd rather watch everything fall apart.  That's reality.  I'd rather see real, deep troubles between people--troubles that aren't easily or ever fixed.

But the fantasy of romance must have wriggled its way into my writing brain. I happened to be writing a fluffy bit of erotica, at the time, called "Seducing the Sexy Celebrity Chef"--now renames "Chef's Kiss."  I intended it as a hardcore romp--a woman's sexual fantasy of getting it on with a domineering TV chef. 

But as I wrote my Chef story, its intention began to morph.  I was trying to write a story that was all about sex, and suddenly it was infusing itself with romance.  Suddenly, my famous chef wanted even more than my star-struck woman.

I tried editing out all that fantastic romance, even as I wrote it.  For some reason, I couldn't stop myself.  Romance overpowered me.  When I handed the manuscript over to my girlfriend, who is also my contract editor, I asked her, "Is this too far from reality?"  I really hoped she'd tell me it was.  I hoped she'd advise me to change the story and remove some of that gushy, far-from-life romance.

But she didn't.  She liked it.

What is it that's so satisfying about the fantasy of romance?  Even as I reread that story and told myself, "This would never happen--not in a million years!" I couldn't change it.  Maybe even the most jaded among us maintain the fantasy of an easy love, an easy romance, an easy life.

That's not reality.  Maybe that's why we (yes, even the cynics and the pessimists) need a fictional shot of happy every once in a while.

Hugs,
Giselle

Tuesday, August 9, 2022

Other Talents

I find my happy place in graphic design. My partner's constantly asking me why I don't offer up my services, if it's something I enjoy so much.  I was thinking about this as I designed myself a new book cover just now, and that's when I remembered this post I wrote a few years ago for a writers' blog I belonged to.  

It still seems apt, so I'm sharing it here:

(c) cocoandwifi
(c) cocoandwifi

My grandmother is terribly proud of the new kitchen light my uncle installed for her. "He's such a perfectionist," she told me. "But he takes his time. He enjoys the work."

"He could make some extra money as a handyman now that he's retired," my mother said.

"No, no. He'd never do that. If this was a real job with pay and clients, then it would feel like work and he wouldn't want to do it anymore."

Same thing with me and graphic design.

I've mentioned before that cover art was, in my mind, a barrier to entry to the world of self-publishing. I knew I couldn't afford to commission quality cover art, but I also didn't know how to create it myself.

That was a big hurdle, but the less I earned in royalties from small presses, the more I realized I needed to make a change--and self-publishing was the best change for me.

I'm a self-taught cover designer. It's a skill I've acquired by trial and error. I won't say it's a "talent" necessarily, because I know some spectacular graphic designers and my covers really don't stack up.

From time to time, I do commission covers from people I consider "real" graphic designers, but the truth is that I've grown to love playing with my design program. Even after four years using it, I learn something new with every cover I create.

I was an artist, as a kid. Teachers told me I'd grow up to be a writer but I never believed them. I only wrote stories so I could draw pictures to go along with them. Maybe cover art is my adult version of book illustrations.

But there's a reason I don't offer up my skills for cash, and it's the same reason my uncle will only do handiwork around my grandmother's house and his own: once you're working for pay, working for clients, it's a job rather than a pleasure.

I want to retain graphic design as my pleasure. I want to keep learning and keep enjoying.


Saturday, August 6, 2022

The Birthday Gift is Back! #Summer #OutdoorSex #GroupSex

The Birthday Gift is the first story I wrote that was ever released as an ebook.  A small (now defunct) publisher called Dark Eden Press put it out back in 2008.  I've written about the extensive editing process it went through back then, and how much I learned about writing from my first editor, in a post you can read here.  

The Birthday Gift has been through a number of revisions since that time, and now it's back on the market in all its small-town pansexual group sex glory. It's also available as a paperback for the first time ever!

The Birthday Gift
by Giselle Renarde

Meredith is a cake-baking, apron-wearing small-town Canadian. Her guiding principle in life is, “What would June Cleaver do?” That is, until a curious set of circumstances cause her to crash an outdoor gathering where she stumbles upon a pair of delicious hunks getting a little hands-on with each other. Surely June Cleaver would have headed for the hills! Not Meredith. This relaxed get-together really heats up when one man’s wife appears on the scene... and encourages Meredith to join in!

Hot stuff! But the story’s not over yet. There’s still the tropical vacation, the confinement in foreign prison, the trial for freedom... and, hey, where’s Meredith’s husband in all this? It is his birthday, after all...


Buy now from Nook: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/birthday-gift-giselle-renarde/1102494848
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/ca/en/ebook/the-birthday-gift-13
Apple: https://books.apple.com/ca/book/the-birthday-gift/id6443243906

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B8F32PP5?tag=dondes-20
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1158592?ref=GiselleRenardeErotica
Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=xaZ-EAAAQBAJ

Find more retailers with the Universal Book Link: https://books2read.com/BirthdayGift